Sunday, October 11, 2009

Play

The other day I wanted to Play with Destino, but wasn't feeling well, coming down with a darn cold... so I was a little lazy. I decided to just go into his area with my stick (it's pink!) and play a little. I left the gate open out into the pasture, if he wanted to leave he could.

He met me at the gate, of course. I played Friendly Game with him, then stepped back and asked him to circle me. The Circle Game isn't his favorite. But he went around once, then looked at me and headed for the gate. I waited, he walked through the gate, immediately disengaged and looked at me. I obviously wasn't going to follow him, so he came back to me. I patted him and then asked him to circle me again. He went around at a nice walk two times with his ear on me. I asked him to disengage and back a few steps, then more Friendly Game, then I asked him to circle me in the other direction. He made it half way around then headed for the gate, went through and immediately disengaged again, saw I wasn't following him, and came back to me. I told him "Good Boy" and petted and petted him. Followed by some more Friendly Game. Then I asked him to circle me again and he did! Two whole circles, I disengaged him and told him "Good Boy!"

We were in the middle of his huge pen at this point. He was facing me and behind him a ways was the gate out into the pasture. So I pointed my stick at his feet, swayed it back and forth and did the YoYo Game, back and straight out the gate. I asked him stop once his body was through the gate and then asked him to come back to me. He did it all perfectly. AND during this time a friend of mine and her little girl were riding their horses down our driveway! I stood in the middle of his pen, with him beside me and whenever he would take a step forward I would ask him to back up and stand with me. He did this perfectly until they rode right up to his fence. And even then he didn't break from me to go visit the new comers!

What a wonderful feeling it is to have such an awesome relationship with him! I love the fact that he always wants to be with me. He is drawn to me and that is something that I can't explain with words. It leaves me grinning from ear to ear and feeling like we really accomplish something whenever I work with him!

"If you talk with the animals, they will talk to you, And you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them. And what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys." Chief Dan George

My New Book

After 2 years and lots of hard work, my new book is available for purchase!